Specific Features of Ambiguous Figure Perception among Preschool Children

The article presents 3- to 7-year-old children's attitude (liking) toward ambiguous figures in comparison with unambiguous ones. Since the knowledge of ambiguity is directly related to the reversal, we have created an experimental procedure to enable children to detect both interpretations of an ambiguous figure even without experimenter's prompts. To achieve this, four images were presented at the same time: an unambiguous, an ambiguous image and two disambiguated versions of an ambiguous figure. With this procedure, even 3-year-old children in some cases were able to name both interpretations of some ambiguous figures. In total, 6 sets of images were presented, 4 images in each set. The instruction involves not only the naming of each image, but also an indication of preferences. For this purpose, the child was asked which of the images he likes most of all. After receiving the answer, that image was removed and the question was repeated again. This resulted in a mean rank range of preference for all 6 sets of images. According to the results of our study, preschool children prefer ambiguous figures less than unambiguous ones. We have found no statistically significant differences among the unambiguous figures. It means that children, although they are not always able to name both interpretations of the ambiguous figure, nevertheless note for themselves the distinctive features of these images. According to the developmental analysis made there are no differences in the number of both ambiguous interpretations among preschool children of different age. This result leads to the conclusion that the spontaneous production of knowledge about ambiguity is not based on those abilities that are associated with perception in the presence of ready knowledge (for example, understanding the position of another in the theory of mind). We have also found that there are a positive relationship between the number of both interpretations and the preference for an unnamed alternative (which was not named in the ambiguous figure) and a negative relationship between the number of both interpretations and the preference for ambiguous figures. It means that as children get older, they begin to notice the inconsistency of the dual images with greater clarity. The study provides an opportunity to take a fresh look at the question of whether a person knows about ambiguity. In addition to the knowledge of ambiguity, it is worth paying attention to the way how a person receives this knowledge, if he does it by himself or ready from the outside. It also became clear that own production of knowledge does not occur at once (especially in case of children's development), i.e. naming of both interpretations and understanding the principle of the solution are two different levels of knowledge about ambiguity. The prospect of studying the stages of knowledge development about ambiguity is opened.

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